Belt tightening budget
Heather MacAdam, heathermacadam@thecasket.ca


      There is mixed reaction locally regarding last week’s throne speech and budget.
      St. F.X. political science professor Doug Brown said the throne speech “reads a bit like an election manifesto.”
      “Obviously, I think, they’re still trying and hoping that the polls will give them a bit of an uptake so they’re taking this opportunity to lay out what it is a fairly comprehensive agenda,” he said.
      Compared with earlier throne speeches under this government, there’s seems to be a bit more policy content, Brown said.
      “They seem to be riding a wave of patriotism to a certain extent,” Brown added. “Our troops in Afghanistan, the Olympics, the effort in Haiti and so forth.”
      Specific to Nova Scotia, amendments to the fisheries act could impact a number of livelihoods.
      “It’s probably long overdue for an overhaul,” Brown said. “I think the last time they really revived the fisheries act … was in the 1970s.”
      It is obvious through the budget the government is looking to tighten its belt, Brown said.
      Central Nova MP and Minister of National Defence Peter MacKay said the Harper Conservative’s budget was practical and restrained.
      “[It was] small in terms of the new spending but it focused on the economy, number one, and jobs,” he said. “This is where, I think, Canadians expect their government to be focused.”
      From a Nova Scotia perspective, there was a $175 commitment to Marine Atlantic, MacKay said, and $28 million for improvements to ferry systems like Caribou-Wood Islands.
      “Because Nova Scotia has a disproportionate number of community colleges and universities, there was money set aside specifically for research and development,” MacKay said.
      The Atlantic Canada Opportunity Agency’s budget was affirmed, he said, and Nova Scotia’s transfer payments have gone up.
      “That is very positive. We’re in a better position as a result of this budget.”
      MacKay added the Department of National Defence’s budget also increased.
      “It will go up again next year,” he added.
      “While the growth is going to be slower as a result of the recession … the reality is we will have more money – more personnel, for our military bases, for training and for equipment.”
      MacKay added the government would be making up for any additional time missed due to proroguing parliament for the 2010 Vancouver Olympic Games.
      “It was about 21 days,” he said. “It wasn’t time lost, I can tell you. We were working hard every day. I know I used that time to be here in my constituency to work on important projects for National Defence, to attend international forums – we were not standing still.”
      Prorogation is not a new thing, he said, adding it’s been used almost every year for 140 years.
      Rodger Cuzner, MP for Cape Breton Canso and chief opposition whip, said the budget didn’t contain anything new for Canadians.
      “We were looking for bold but we got old,” he said.
      “A lot of the points that have been identified in the budget – the investments that have been made – are already spoken for. The things that they’ve tried to put forward as new are really old.”
      Some areas of concern for the Atlantic region are investments in things such as the Atlantic Gateway initiatives, he said.
      “What Nova Scotia was looking for through that program had been clearly identified and articulated by our former premier Rodney MacDonald and we see no action on those issues at all,” Cuzner said.
      The Conservatives talked about the Atlantic Gateway in 2007, Cuzner said, and there hasn’t been “any action on the file.”
      “I think there’s a missed opportunity there.”
      Another concern in the record amount of debt, Cuzner said.
      “The good work that was done by past governments, primarily Chrétien and Martin through the mid 90s, and the sacrifices all Canadians made through the mid and late 90s, has pretty much been washed away. The monies that had been applied to the dept and the deficits that had been wrestled to the ground are a thing of the past and a thing of the history.”
      Pensions are another important issue to Canadians that was “totally overlooked in this document,” Cuzner said.
      The budget includes a $25 million investment in green technologies, Cuzner said, while the government has spent more than $100 million advertising the Economic Action Plan.
      “It those types of aspects of the budget that I think will have a lot of Canadians scratching their heads.”